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Carb is Toast? Need to replace

What would you put on an L-48?

  • 650 cfm Edelbrock

    Votes: 5 18.5%
  • 650 cfm Holly

    Votes: 5 18.5%
  • stock replacement carb

    Votes: 17 63.0%

  • Total voters
    27
P

Piet

Guest
What would you do?

The car had been sitting for a year and half.
I bought it... got it running. Left on business trip for one week and now the car won't start.

When I turn the car over and pour gas down the carb, it starts.

I took the fuel line off and I have fuel getting to the carb
When pumping the gas, nothing is squirting out.

I ain't no Carb Tech... so I am thinking the "replace" option is my best bet.
 
Are you mechanically inclined?????
how about rebuilding it or have it rebuilt....
It may maybe a less expensive alternative than a new carb...jmo
 
My 2 cents: rebuilding and refurbishing the original Rochester back to original condition will cost as much as a new Edelbrock, but when tuned correctly the original will probably give you better fuel mileage and still as much power as the L-48 can generate. Probably the biggest thing wrong with the current carb is it is leaking out the fuel from not haveing the bowls sealed at bottom. If you have noticed gas on top of the intake after engine is off for a while, then that is why. When bowls are empty, the accelerator pump has nothing to squirt.
 
Rebuild the Q-Jet.

DougRoe-1.jpg


Good stuff from Mr. Roe.

:)
 
Rebuilt the orginal, I had mine done a couple months ago its is great.
 
...I ain't no Carb Tech... so I am thinking the "replace" option is my best bet.

If you go with an aftermarket... go with the Holley 4150. Great carb, fits the spreadbore pattern.

holly_spread_bore_bg.jpg


However... the choice is yours! Good luck!
 
What would you do?

The car had been sitting for a year and half.
I bought it... got it running. Left on business trip for one week and now the car won't start.

When I turn the car over and pour gas down the carb, it starts.

I took the fuel line off and I have fuel getting to the carb
When pumping the gas, nothing is squirting out.

I ain't no Carb Tech... so I am thinking the "replace" option is my best bet.

If there's no indication of anything squirting when you pump the gas then the accelerator pump is most likely bad. Real easy to fix, take your carb number and go to NAPA and buy a rebuild kit. It'll have new gaskets and a new acceleraor pump along with some other parts. Get a new float while you're at it also. You'll have to take the top of the carb off to get at it but a little work and a rebuild kit is far cheaper than a new carb.
 
I would have the original Q-Jet rebuilt by somone who knows carbs, especially Q-jets. When tuned properly it will out perform any other spreadbore replacement carb and will give you better fuel economy as well. Another plus is that it is a direct bolt on with no modifying of linkage, choke or fuel lines to get it to work. Just my .02.
 
Send Qjet out to Lars Grimsrud for rebuild that's tuned for YOUR car. He's a CAC member & has a great reputation. You'll end up with a carb as good or better than new... for a bit less $ than new.
 
check this first

Hi Piet, before you do anything with carb, fit new points and condensor, make sure they are quility points , dont use vented type they are the type that has a small hole on on one side of the points they are renowned for giving problems. then try the same thing fire it up, more than half the starting problems arise not with gas problems, but ingnition problems because you said you got your car running, then you left it for over a year, if your points were bad then over a time period between the electrodes they deteriorate, this has happened to me on many of cars over the years regards wayne.
 
If you go with an aftermarket... go with the Holley 4150. Great carb, fits the spreadbore pattern. However... the choice is yours! Good luck!

The 4150 series are all square-bore patterns; the Holley spread-bore replacements for Q-Jet intakes have a different model number (4165/4175). :)
 
The stock QJ is far and away the better carb especially for a street machine. Get yours redone by a competent carb tech and get it tuned correctly and you will be money and time ahead. Replacing it with an off the shelf unit might work, then again it might not. Lots of the "Refurbished" units were assembled in mexico or wherever from bins of mixed parts that don't match and need extensive rework to get them working correctly. Holly makes a good product, but it also needs more maint. Edlebrock is an outdated design, but its pretty and Demon is more carb than you need on the street, plus all the throttle cable mods you may or may not have to do to get something other than the QJ to work.
 
the stock carb would be the best. rebuild it or have a tuner do it it is the best bang for the buck.it is made for the car and can be made into a good performer Steve
 
I agree

with the stock motor and mild tune up you don't need a 650 anyway... but thats another one of those endless debates.. but you really don't

the stock Qjet is a great carb.. yours does not need a lot of tricks put to it if your motor is all stock at the moment... you just are not putting out enough hp to worry about more out of the carb.... should be a simple rebuild at this point
 
What would I do?
I would give the carb a few light taps with a small hammer to get the float needle unstuck. If you have gas to the carb, but nothing in the bowl, that's the likely culprit. The needle can stick closed to the valve seat and shut off the fuel supply with the float hanging in mid bowl. That's what I would do.
:w
 
Well... here is how it turned out.

When testing, I disconnected the fuel line from the carb and put it into a jar.
I turned the engine over, and then got out and looked at the jar.
There was fuel in it. Therefore I assumed the problem was post-fuel pump.

I replaced the internal filter and tried again... no gas in carb. So I assumed the carb.
I replaced the carb with a stock replacement... still no luck.

When I tried the fuel line into the jar again, I had my wife turn it over while I watched. I noticed that the fuel was coming out randomly but not regular.

So I replaced the fuel pump... still no luck.

It turns out that the gas tack was full of sludge. I steam cleaned the tank.
Now she runs like a top. And the new carb and pump make her perform pretty quick.

I will have a brand new corvette yet.... one piece at a time.
 
;LOLWell, at least you got it figured out! Congrats! I am laughing because I am getting my new Vette 1 part at a time too, annother $100 in stuff ordered today
 

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